Inspiration: 10 Stunning Design-Heavy Websites

If you’re asking for some of the best web designs in the world, chances are you’ll be pointed in the direction of something that’s pretty simple and minimal. In fact, if you ask most web design experts, they’ll most likely point you to site that are equally sparse.

Most of us tend to believe that less is more. We’re entering an age where audiences want less fluff and more information and content. This leads us to the question, how do we handle design-heavy sites?

We don’t mean design in the sense of layouts and higher understanding. We mean design in terms of visual appeal and decorations. We’re big on separating the two, but when you think about it, you’ll just wonder when we on the Web even left that idea.

When you’re on the Web, you can do what you want and people will see it. Nowadays, you go online and it’s not uncommon to see a site with very little design and lots of whitespace. So today, we’re going to do something a little different and share with you some great websites that are loaded with visual elements, but still manage to work.

Some web designers have to find a way to say “for children” without overdoing it. The Wee Society has found a great, clean way to show off their products. The site contains a lot of extra design elements, and the colors and design really help.

Guitars and other musical instruments aren’t usually the areas that experiment with much design. A lot of people would rather look at the beauty of the instrument itself than the beauty of the website. However, D’Angelico Guitars did a great job of highlighting musical instruments and creating enough aesthetics to compliment what’s already going on. It’s the perfect balance of decoration on top of a well-designed and planned website.

This website is pretty clean and makes sure to break up the content easily and not overcomplicate things. They do, however, have one major piece of design that serves as the centerpiece of the website. The team behind Blue Acorn decided to create an animated illustration that helps show how they work. And while it isn’t large and across the entire website, it’s a great way to add some wonderful aesthetics among a solid design.

This website is simply the coolest thing ever. If you bounce around from page to page, there’s something different and interesting. Webbklubben revisited some of the ways we do things (especially the map) and have made it remarkably unique.

Most internship programs give you a piece of paper and you have to do your best to keep up. You really might feel like you’re pushing the envelope if your internship program has a dedicated webpage. This particular agency decided to give their entire internship a full-fledged website. It’s not just any old website, either. There’s so much excitement built on this little site, thanks to the unorthodox layout and great illustrations.

YOOKOSO Japan is designed from the bottom up. Between parallax scrolling and some killer photo manipulations, visitors will immediately be interested in what they’re selling. Although there’s so much design and aesthetics, they keep a lot of their elements common and you know exactly what they’re talking about.

When you design a site for kids, there’s a fine line between being too catchy and just being too plain for the kids. The Land of Nod sells cool furniture for kids. Now, we know kids aren’t logging on to buy beds and chairs online, but we do know that creating the right look and feel for the products we sell will definitely get parents to buy quicker. This site has some awesome design that perfectly balances with what children want and what parents need.

SoSweet! is a creative agency that’s created yet another run-of-the-mill website. That is, until you actually look around. The site has added a lot of flair to different elements, making this site really pop. Additionally, the animation on the header slider will really get you interested in what they’re doing.

One of the tricks to creating a bold website is knowing exactly when to use it. Making all your elements in that style can get a little boring and lose its punch. But this website decided they’re going to use it in a very specific place. In fact, it’s in the most important place on the site: the portfolio.